Walter Olson
@walterolson.bsky.social
Writer on law etc.; Cato Institute. Election law, Maryland civic stuff, cooking. Blogged at Overlawyered back when. No kings, no tyrants.
(Spoiler: by hiring them for deportation work.)
Trump II has gotten more bad cops out of local departments than decades of DOJ civil rights actions have ever accomplished.
November 20, 2025 at 12:29 AM
(Spoiler: by hiring them for deportation work.)
Reposted by Walter Olson
Presenting to the court an indictment the grand jury didn't actually approve or even see might be the most flabbergasting thing that's ever happened in a federal criminal case.
November 19, 2025 at 7:52 PM
Presenting to the court an indictment the grand jury didn't actually approve or even see might be the most flabbergasting thing that's ever happened in a federal criminal case.
Reposted by Walter Olson
Nearly a decade after Ashtian Barnes was killed by a Texas deputy, his family is still fighting for justice.
Cato’s new brief urges the Fifth Circuit to let a jury—not judges—decide whether the officer’s use of force was reasonable. Read here👇
Cato’s new brief urges the Fifth Circuit to let a jury—not judges—decide whether the officer’s use of force was reasonable. Read here👇
Barnes v. Felix Brief: Juries, Not Judges, Need to Decide the Reasonableness of Force
Our brief argues that the Framers intended for juries—comprised of ordinary Americans—to adjudicate disputes between citizens and their government. Assessing whether a police officer’s use of force was reasonable under the circumstances is precisely the type of judgment call the Framers tasked jurors to make.
www.cato.org
November 19, 2025 at 10:25 PM
Nearly a decade after Ashtian Barnes was killed by a Texas deputy, his family is still fighting for justice.
Cato’s new brief urges the Fifth Circuit to let a jury—not judges—decide whether the officer’s use of force was reasonable. Read here👇
Cato’s new brief urges the Fifth Circuit to let a jury—not judges—decide whether the officer’s use of force was reasonable. Read here👇
Reposted by Walter Olson
"Homeland security investigators worked approximately 33 percent fewer hours on child exploitation cases from February through April compared to their average in prior years"
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/16/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/16/u...
Homeland Security Missions Falter Amid Focus on Deportations
www.nytimes.com
November 17, 2025 at 4:35 PM
"Homeland security investigators worked approximately 33 percent fewer hours on child exploitation cases from February through April compared to their average in prior years"
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/16/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/16/u...
Reposted by Walter Olson
Run away from Border Patrol, they assault and tackle you and accuse you of assaulting them. Run toward Border Patrol, they assault and tackle you and accuse you of assaulting them. Stand still... you get the idea. www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/i...
November 18, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Run away from Border Patrol, they assault and tackle you and accuse you of assaulting them. Run toward Border Patrol, they assault and tackle you and accuse you of assaulting them. Stand still... you get the idea. www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/i...
Thread from my @cato.org colleague.
DHS beat, tackled, shackled, cut, and bruised US citizen Arturo Hermosillo in June. His hands turned blue. They stuffed him in a van and drove him to a station. Yet the agents told him that he was never "arrested," just "detained," ICE's new get-out-of-jail-free word.
November 20, 2025 at 12:23 AM
Thread from my @cato.org colleague.
Reposted by Walter Olson
First, the regime said it would bar transgendered citizens from firearms ownership. This week, I learned that for the last 4+ years, the FBI has been spying on socialists who own or train with firearms. My latest, out today.
In the FBI's Crosshairs: the Socialist Rifle Association
The fact that Trump’s FBI is still actively investigating a politically disfavored group that supports Second Amendment rights takes this constitutional threat to the next level.
www.cato.org
November 19, 2025 at 10:42 PM
First, the regime said it would bar transgendered citizens from firearms ownership. This week, I learned that for the last 4+ years, the FBI has been spying on socialists who own or train with firearms. My latest, out today.
Reposted by Walter Olson
To clarify a point that might be confusing some, this is a 3-judge district court panel on which 5th Circuit Judge Smith is sitting, not a 5th Circuit appeal panel. Almost all district court rulings are by a single (district court) judge, but one exception is for redistricting challenges like this.
I have never seen an opinion like Judge Smith’s dissent in the Texas redistricting case in public before. H/t to the election law blog
electionlawblog.org/wp-content/u...
electionlawblog.org/wp-content/u...
electionlawblog.org
November 19, 2025 at 10:20 PM
To clarify a point that might be confusing some, this is a 3-judge district court panel on which 5th Circuit Judge Smith is sitting, not a 5th Circuit appeal panel. Almost all district court rulings are by a single (district court) judge, but one exception is for redistricting challenges like this.
Reposted by Walter Olson
Truly mind-blowing levels of hypocrisy from this admin on using government strong arming to threaten social media companies into censoring
www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/crime/3...
www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/crime/3...
November 19, 2025 at 9:50 PM
Truly mind-blowing levels of hypocrisy from this admin on using government strong arming to threaten social media companies into censoring
www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/crime/3...
www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/crime/3...
New from me at Cato: what if Texas and California had a redistricting shootout but only California was competent at using its weapons? Blasting a cringe-worthy Department of Justice Civil Rights Division memo, a federal court has found Texas lawmakers improperly considered race in recent remap. /1
Federal Court Slaps Down Texas Gerrymander As Racially Based
Even if it was pursuing an essentially partisan goal, the Texas legislature took its lead from the Trump Justice Department and unlawfully based district lines on race, according to a new panel ruling...
www.cato.org
November 19, 2025 at 8:29 PM
New from me at Cato: what if Texas and California had a redistricting shootout but only California was competent at using its weapons? Blasting a cringe-worthy Department of Justice Civil Rights Division memo, a federal court has found Texas lawmakers improperly considered race in recent remap. /1
How important is the drug trade in fueling Caribbean homicide rates? Natural experiment of sudden shift in trafficking following 1973 Chile coup estimates that the re-routing of drug flows increased Puerto Rico's murder rate by 50 percent in subsequent decade [Brian Marein, @cato.org research brief]
Drug Trafficking and the Homicide Epidemic in the Caribbean Basin
The onset of large-scale drug trafficking increased homicides in Puerto Rico by 5 per 100,000 inhabitants—about a 50 percent increase—in the decade following the 1973 Chilean coup.
www.cato.org
November 19, 2025 at 8:05 PM
How important is the drug trade in fueling Caribbean homicide rates? Natural experiment of sudden shift in trafficking following 1973 Chile coup estimates that the re-routing of drug flows increased Puerto Rico's murder rate by 50 percent in subsequent decade [Brian Marein, @cato.org research brief]
Reposted by Walter Olson
NEW: DHS ingested a trove of highly unreliable Chicago police records on people accused of having gang ties to feed an FBI watchlist and then just ... didn't delete it for seven months after being told to do so because no one noticed. Scoop from @dell.bsky.social, and is outside our paywall.
DHS Kept Chicago Police Records for Months in Violation of Domestic Espionage Rules
The Department of Homeland Security collected data on Chicago residents accused of gang ties to test if police files could feed an FBI watchlist. Months passed before anyone noticed it wasn’t deleted.
www.wired.com
November 12, 2025 at 10:08 PM
NEW: DHS ingested a trove of highly unreliable Chicago police records on people accused of having gang ties to feed an FBI watchlist and then just ... didn't delete it for seven months after being told to do so because no one noticed. Scoop from @dell.bsky.social, and is outside our paywall.
I feel that this man's decorating sense and mine diverged at some point.
A Home That Proves You Can Never Have Too Many Books
www.nytimes.com
November 19, 2025 at 7:25 PM
I feel that this man's decorating sense and mine diverged at some point.
Reposted by Walter Olson
If current trends (TX struck down, MO encountering resistance by citizens, KS, MD, and IN legislators dragging their heels) continue, then the ideal case would be for everyone to see that this is a fruitless war. The 2026 election should seal the case. Then we can get back to reform and repair.
November 19, 2025 at 4:54 PM
If current trends (TX struck down, MO encountering resistance by citizens, KS, MD, and IN legislators dragging their heels) continue, then the ideal case would be for everyone to see that this is a fruitless war. The 2026 election should seal the case. Then we can get back to reform and repair.
“It is a decisive win for Meta,” said Rebecca Haw Allensworth, professor of law at Vanderbilt University. “It takes the wind out of the sails of the government antitrust suits against Big Tech for sure.” A spokesman for the FTC, meanwhile, reacts with a nasty swipe against Judge Boasberg.
Meta Did Not Violate Antitrust Law, Judge Rules
www.nytimes.com
November 19, 2025 at 1:51 PM
“It is a decisive win for Meta,” said Rebecca Haw Allensworth, professor of law at Vanderbilt University. “It takes the wind out of the sails of the government antitrust suits against Big Tech for sure.” A spokesman for the FTC, meanwhile, reacts with a nasty swipe against Judge Boasberg.
This thread is deliriously weird, and also relevant to MAGA's #StopTheSteal election madness in which Byrne has been a big player
I have never heard of a default under circumstances remotely like this—the defendant fired his entire defense team, and new lawyers showed up on the first day of trial, and weren’t admitted in the district and one was literally an accused felon out of bail
November 19, 2025 at 1:45 PM
This thread is deliriously weird, and also relevant to MAGA's #StopTheSteal election madness in which Byrne has been a big player
Reposted by Walter Olson
The argument of this piece appears to be that we should welcome a policy that is definitely terrible in hopes that it may, down the road, trick voters into supporting policies that are actually good.
Zohran Mamdani argues that “freeze the rent” is not just a way of delivering relief from exorbitant housing costs—it is the only way to get enough voters on board with a growth agenda. Rogé Karma spoke with Mamdani to see if he has a point.
Mamdani Has a Point About Rent Control
The YIMBY case for rent control
bit.ly
November 19, 2025 at 9:12 AM
The argument of this piece appears to be that we should welcome a policy that is definitely terrible in hopes that it may, down the road, trick voters into supporting policies that are actually good.
Reposted by Walter Olson
Can We Make Flophouses Great Again? And Should We?
The government destroyed the last century's privately provided housing safety net. Bringing it back is harder than you might think. reason.com/2025/11/18/c...
The government destroyed the last century's privately provided housing safety net. Bringing it back is harder than you might think. reason.com/2025/11/18/c...
Can we make flophouses great again? And should we?
In a world of free markets in housing, we shouldn't necessarily expect rooming houses to make a comeback.
reason.com
November 19, 2025 at 12:37 AM
Can We Make Flophouses Great Again? And Should We?
The government destroyed the last century's privately provided housing safety net. Bringing it back is harder than you might think. reason.com/2025/11/18/c...
The government destroyed the last century's privately provided housing safety net. Bringing it back is harder than you might think. reason.com/2025/11/18/c...
Reposted by Walter Olson
Really great point about the lack of SRO-type housing in US cities. www.ryanpuzycki.com/p/the-banish...
The Banished Bottom of the Housing Market
How America Destroyed Its Cheapest Homes
www.ryanpuzycki.com
November 17, 2025 at 5:55 PM
Really great point about the lack of SRO-type housing in US cities. www.ryanpuzycki.com/p/the-banish...
Reposted by Walter Olson
JUST IN: A federal appeals court panel (with 2/3 Trump appointees) calls his lawsuit against CNN — over use of the term Big Lie — "meritless" and affirms the decision by a lower court to throw it out. s3.documentcloud.org/documents/26...
November 18, 2025 at 3:26 PM
JUST IN: A federal appeals court panel (with 2/3 Trump appointees) calls his lawsuit against CNN — over use of the term Big Lie — "meritless" and affirms the decision by a lower court to throw it out. s3.documentcloud.org/documents/26...
Reposted by Walter Olson
What if there were a fair-districting suicide pact but only one side succeeded in following through?
November 19, 2025 at 12:17 AM
What if there were a fair-districting suicide pact but only one side succeeded in following through?
Reposted by Walter Olson
"Say what you want about MBS, he's quite an effective king I think in a lot of different ways. Um love the Ritz thing, the whole Saudi embassy thing, I don't know, but I mean he was a journalist". [Giggles]
November 18, 2025 at 11:14 PM
"Say what you want about MBS, he's quite an effective king I think in a lot of different ways. Um love the Ritz thing, the whole Saudi embassy thing, I don't know, but I mean he was a journalist". [Giggles]
Reposted by Walter Olson
There was a kind of trigger in the original draft of Prop 50, but it is no longer in there. It references Texas redistricting but it does not depend on it. Here's the full text:
vig.cdn.sos.ca.gov/2025/special...
vig.cdn.sos.ca.gov/2025/special...
November 18, 2025 at 7:17 PM
There was a kind of trigger in the original draft of Prop 50, but it is no longer in there. It references Texas redistricting but it does not depend on it. Here's the full text:
vig.cdn.sos.ca.gov/2025/special...
vig.cdn.sos.ca.gov/2025/special...
Reposted by Walter Olson
"Things happen" sometimes, like when you walk into an embassy to apply for your marriage license while your bride-to-be waits outside, but then you get bonesawed to pieces for having exercised freedom of speech as an US-based journalist and have to be carried out in a series of suitcases.
Trump suggests Khashoggi had it coming: "You're mentioning someone that was extremely controversial. A lot of people didn't like that gentleman that you're talking about. Whether you like him or didn't like him, things happen. But he knew nothing about it. You don't have to embarrass our guest."
November 18, 2025 at 11:18 PM
"Things happen" sometimes, like when you walk into an embassy to apply for your marriage license while your bride-to-be waits outside, but then you get bonesawed to pieces for having exercised freedom of speech as an US-based journalist and have to be carried out in a series of suitcases.
Reposted by Walter Olson
Trump commuted the sentence of convicted scammer Eliyahi Weinstein in 2021. He's now going back to federal prison for 37 years after being convicted of a committing a new Ponzi scheme involving fraudulent promises of aid to war-torn Ukraine.
Trump commuted N.J. con man’s sentence. Now he’s going back to prison for new Ponzi scheme.
The Ponzi scheme duped investors out of $44 million.
www.nj.com
November 18, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Trump commuted the sentence of convicted scammer Eliyahi Weinstein in 2021. He's now going back to federal prison for 37 years after being convicted of a committing a new Ponzi scheme involving fraudulent promises of aid to war-torn Ukraine.